I have bought and sold many homes over the years – all without a professional stager and most without a real estate agent! Whether that was purely genius or just insane, I’ll never tell, but I have learned a few things along the way.

But in order to sell your house, you can help yourself by preparing diligently before putting your house on the market. The first essential task is to get a dumpster. You will be surprised how much you will actually get rid of from your house if you have a place to get rid of it.

Now you can begin with cleaning your closets. Go from room to room and purge those spaces, BIG TIME. Potential home buyers want to feel like there is room to put all their stuff, which is hard to do if the closets are so full you can’t even close the door. Try getting rid of things first and then organizing so it looks like the closet is bigger than it actually is.

Next, strategically remove things from counters and shelves. Think “no clutter” on countertops, islands, coffee tables or shelving units – no child’s artwork strewn about the counters, or lining the side of the refrigerator. We all love to think people will like “our stuff” (meaning personal memorabilia) but in actuality you want them to envision this as THEIR house, not yours. Personal things should be stowed – but that doesn’t mean what’s left shouldn’t look cute.

Finally, touch up walls with paint. If you still have the paint from your rooms, do a once over, painting over marks, chips and holes. But be sure to do a test spot – if your wall color has faded, then you will have different color patches going on – and it will look worse than when you began. Consider painting whole rooms if they are really worn or outdated. This is an inexpensive way to get an expensive result. Choose “current colors” wherever possible, it will make buyers feel like they are walking into a house right out of a magazine!

Selling a home can seem intimidating, but if you take simple steps to be prepared beforehand, you will see better results.